Thai Iced Tea Cake

The last 2 months have been hectic! I have been so busy with work and holidays that I haven't really tried new recipes. Since my last post, I have travelled to Chiangmai and my 2nd home, Shanghai. It's due to my trip to Chiangmai and also discussion with 2 colleagues that I have decided to try making Thai Ice Tea Cake for a colleague's birthday tomorrow.

It was a lovely girls' trip to Chiangmai with my mum and sis in September. We stumbled upon a nice cafe for lunch and tea. It was at this cafe that I bought my Thai Iced Tea mix. The cafe had a colonial house feel and the food had infused tea into some Thai dishes. My fish dish had a lovely tea sauce that was drizzled on it. I bought some tea leaves from the cafe to take home but didn't get a chance to try the Thai Iced Tea mix yet as some crisis came up at work and I was rushing to finish up before my Shanghai trip.

Last Friday, I was having a discussion with colleagues on what to bake for the birthday celebration tomorrow. A chocolate cake seems too common and a few colleagues don't appreciate carrot cakes. One colleague suggest Earl Grey tea as the birthday girl loves tea and I wondered if I should try making Thai Iced Tea cake since I have the mix at home. Both colleagues agreed that it's a wonderful idea since she had worked in Thailand a few years back and had fond memories of the place. I googled around for recipes and found a few links which has made use of this recipe.

Thai Iced Tea Cake (8" round cake) (recipe from here with modifications)


2 cups milk
3/4 cup condensed milk
3/4 cup Thai Iced Tea mix
3 cups cake flour
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
11/2 cup sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter
6 eggs

1) Bring the milk, condensed milk and Thai Iced Tea mix to a simmer and let it steep for at least 30 minutes. You will need 3/4 cups of this mixture for the cake

2) Pre-heat oven at 175 deg C.
3) Beat the butter and sugar together till pale and fluffy.

4) Add in the eggs one at the time and mix well

5) Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt together.
6) Alternate adding flour and tea mix into the batter and mix well.

7) Pour into 2 8" lined cake tins.

 8) Bake for about 45-50 minutes till the cake is cooked.

9) Cool the cakes before decorating

Thai Ice Tea Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup tea and milk mixture from above
500g cream cheese
250g butter
13/4 cup icing sugar (more if desired)

1) Cream the cream cheese and butter together till smooth.
2) Add the tea and milk mixture slowly and mix well
3) Add the icing sugar and mix well.
4) Decorate as desired.

Moist Jewish Honey Cake

Hello! It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Been busy as I have returned to the corporate world after a year's break. It took me a while but I finally found a job that allows me work-life balance. I am now 6 weeks into the job and still enjoying it. I have another HR colleague who is into baking and did took his sabbatical to do baking 2 years ago so we have been exchanging tips and ideas. Now I mostly experiment with recipes in the evenings and bring them to my colleagues the next day. Yay! A group of people to help finish the cakes! I still take in orders for cakes and cookies mostly over the weekends.

Back to the cake I am introducing today. This is a Jewish Honey Cake and is typically eaten during the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. A Jewish colleague of mine baked a cake for us 3 years back and I loved the cake! Being a baker, I asked her what are the ingredients as the cake was moist and full of flavour! She told me there's coffee, orange juice, honey and various spices in the cake. It sounded very interesting. I had always wanted to try baking it but never got round to it. I finally tried it about 2 weeks back and fell in love with it. It was a very easy cake and wonderful for those of us who are busy. Everything gets thrown into one bowl and mixed together. I only have to wash a bowl, a measuring cup and a sieve! Greats news for people like me who hate to wash.

Moist Honey Cake (recipe from here)
31/2 cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
4tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground allspice
1/2tsp ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
3 large eggs
1 cup warm coffee
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup whiskey (optional - replace with orange juice for non-alcoholic version)
1tsp vanilla extract

1) Pre-heat oven at 175 deg C
2)Sieve the plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, cloves together in a mixing bowl.

3) Add in the brown and caster sugar
4) Make a well in the centre and add in the rest of the ingredients.

5) Whisk till everything is well mixed.

6) Pour into a oiled and floured 10" Bundt cake pan

7) Bake at 175 deg C for 60-70 mins.
8) Cool in the pan for 15-20 mins before unmoulding
9) Decorate with icing sugar if desired.

As I am typing, the smell of the baking cake is wafting in from the kitchen. I am baking it this time for a church event tomorrow. I find that spiced cakes usually takes a day for the flavours to develop so it would be good to bake the cake a day in advance. My friends loved the Honey Cake and it reminds me of Christmas! This is certainly a cake I will bake for the Christmas Holidays, easy and delicious. Lovely when served with a cup of coffee or tea.

Easter desserts week 3: Easter Bunny Carrot Cupcake

Happy Monday! It's a 4-day work week and we'll be having a long weekend to celebrate Good Friday and Easter at the end of the week.

Following the previous posts on Chocolate and Coconut Sugar Easter cupcakes, I have decided to make some Bunny carrot cupcakes. I had fun making my own coloured sugar and decorating the cupcakes with marshmallows and chocolate buttons. Hope you will have as much fun.

Carrot cake (recipe adapted from here)

150g melted butter
150g soft light brown sugar
3 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange
100g sultanas or raisins
200g carrots, peeled and grated
100g walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C 

2. Put the melted butter, sugar and eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk well until the ingredients are thoroughly combined and the mixture has almost doubled in volume.

3. Sift together the flour, bicarbornate, salt and spices and then fold very gently into the liquid mixture. Be careful not to deflate the batter. 

4. Fold in the orange zest and grated carrots gently and divide between the cupcake cases. 

5. Bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool cupcakes before frosting.

Decoration

Red or Orange Mini M&Ms
Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows
Fruit rolls
Pink coloured sugar (put a drop of red food colouring into some caster sugar and shake vigorously)
Cream Cheese frosting (refer to Red Velvet cupcake recipe)

1. Cut the marshmallows into 3 and then into halves

2. Coat one side of the marshmallow with the pink sugar

3. Pipe a layer of cream cheese on each cupcake and smooth with a spatula

4. Put 2 cut marshmallows as bunny ears, 2 chocolate chips for eyes and one mini M&M for nose.

5. Cut the fruit rolls into smaller pieces to use as whiskers.

Have fun!

Easter desserts week 2: Gula Melaka (coconut sugar) Easter cupcakes

Have you ever woken up one morning with a brilliant idea? Well I had one when I woke up last Monday morning. I had a very nice Gula Melaka sugee cake over the weekend and it inspired me to adapt the Red Velvet cupcakes recipe to make Gula Melaka cupcakes! I wasn't very sure if I should add vinegar to coconut milk to make "buttermilk". I did some research online and it seems it can be done so I went ahead to try the recipe by replacing sugar with coconut sugar and milk with coconut milk. Since we are still in the Easter season, I have decided to localise the flavour of my frosting too.

Coconut Sugar (Gula Melaka) Easter Cupcakes (Makes 16 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

250g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

100g soft unsalted butter

180g coconut sugar (Gula Melaka)

2 large eggs

175 ml coconut milk

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare cupcake cases.

2.    Mix 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar into the coconut milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

3.    Sieve the self-rising flour and baking soda together in a bowl.

4.    In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, till a soft, pale mixture forms.

5.    Into the mixture, fold 1 spoonful of the flour, then 1 egg, followed by some flour, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the flour.

6.  Pour in the milk mixture into the batter. Mix well and divide the batter into the 14 cases.  Bake in the oven for about 18 - 20 minutes.

7.    Leave them to cool before frosting or storing.

Cream Cheese frosting and decorating:

250g cream cheese

125g butter

½ - 1 cup icing sugar (to your taste)
2-3 tbsp of coconut sugar syrup

Pandan food paste 

1/2 cup desiccated coconut 

Chocolate eggs (I used peanut M&Ms)

1.    Leave the cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2.    Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a mixer till smooth.

3.    Add the icing sugar and coconut sugar syrup to the mixture and beat till smooth.

4. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe all over the cupcake.

5. Put a drop of Pandan food paste into the desiccated coconut and mix well. Coat each cupcake with the coloured desiccated coconut.

6.Chill the cupcakes and put 3 peanut M&Ms on each cupcake before serving. 

Note: Do not put the M&Ms into fridge as the condensation will cause dis-colouration. 

The flavour reminds me of onde onde with the coconut and gula melaka. I frosted only half the batch of cupcakes as I was finishing up my leftover cream cheese frosting. My family prefers the cupcakes without the coconut as they are not fans.The unfrosted cupcakes were gone by the end of the day! Looks like I have to try another frosting for these cupcakes.

Easter desserts week 1: Red Velvet Easter Cupcakes

After 2 weeks of celebration and feasting, the Lunar New Year come to a close last week. However, I seem to have celebrations to attend post Lunar New Year! A few friends have moved into new homes in the past 2-3 months and I have attended 2 house-warming celebrations during the last 2 Sundays. Since I am baker, I have baked a cake for each of the celebration using the giant cupcake mould gift that I received last Christmas. I have chosen the favourite colours of the hostess for each cake. The colours reminds me of Spring! I was amazed at how lovely the cakes turn out.

The giant cupcakes were baked and frosted using the Red Velvet cupcake recipe that I am sharing with you today. Each recipe makes about 14 cupcakes and you will need 1.5 recipes for the giant cupcake. I used 2 recipes for the giant cupcake and usually have enough batter for about 6 cupcakes. As Easter is coming, I have decided to make some Easter themed cupcakes. The children at the party were rushing for these 6 cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Makes 14 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

250g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

100g soft unsalted butter

180g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

175 ml milk

1 tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp red food colouring

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare cupcake cases.

2.    Mix 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar into the milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

3.    Sieve the self-rising flour, cocoa powder and baking soda together in a bowl.

4.    In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, till a soft, pale mixture forms. Beat in the vanilla extract.

5.    Into the mixture, fold 1 spoonful of the dry ingredients, then 1 egg, followed by some more dry ingredients, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the dry ingredients.

6.    Mix in the additional 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar into the milk and pour in the milk mixture into the batter. Mix well and divide the batter into the 14 cases.  Bake in the oven for about 18 - 20 minutes.

7.    Leave them to cool before frosting or storing.

Cream Cheese frosting and decorating:

250g cream cheese

125g butter

½ - 1 cup icing sugar (to your taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Green Food colouring 

Piping bag fitted with Wilton #233 piping tip

Chocolate eggs (I used peanut M&Ms)

1.    Leave the cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2.    Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a mixer till smooth.

3.    Add the icing sugar and vanilla essence to the mixture and beat till smooth.

4.    Mix in the food colouring a little at a time till desired colour is achieved.

5. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe all over the cupcake.

6. Chill the cupcakes and put 3 peanut M&Ms on each cupcake before serving. 

Note: Do not put the M&Ms into fridge as the condensation will cause dis-colouration. 

You can involve the children in piping the frosting and placing the chocolate eggs. Happy Spring!

Happy Lunar New Year! Orange Chiffon Cake

Happy Lunar New Year and Happy Birthday to all! Hope everyone had a good reunion with your family and friends over the CNY holidays. Today is the 7th day of the Lunar New Year known as 人日 and we celebrate everyone's birthday! Have you tossed the raw fish salad today to celebrate?

Here's wishing everyone good health and happiness in the new year.

Sorry for missing 2 weeks of posts as I was busy baking CNY cookies. A very big thank you to friends for their overwhelming support.

Today, I am sharing the Orange Chiffon Cake recipe which is light, fluffy and citrus in flavour.

Orange Chiffon Cake (23cm Chiffon pan)

6 eggs (separated)
100ml vegetable oil
160g caster/fine sugar
200g cake flour
150ml freshly squeezed orange juice
zest of 2 oranges
2 tsp baking powder

1) Pre-heat oven at 170 deg C
2) Hand whisk the egg yolks together with 80g sugar till thick
3) Add the vegetable oil and mix well.
4) Add the orange juice and orange zest and mix well.
5) Sieve the cake flour together with baking powder and fold into the egg yolk mixture.
6) In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a mixer till frothy and add in 80g sugar slowly and continue beating till just before stiff peaks form.

7) Fold in the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture in 3 batches.
8) Pour the batter into a chiffon cake pan (no need to grease or line)
9) Tap the cake pan on the table a few times to remove the bubbles.

10) Bake in the oven for 50-55 mins till it's cooked.
11) Invert the cake pan immediately and leave the cake to cool in the upside down position.
12) Remove the cake carefully once the cake is cool.

Serve the cake with some tea and I guarantee you won't be able to stop at one slice!

A tribute to Paddington Bear! Marmalade cupcakes

My first order for 2015 is chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake for a little girl's fifth birthday. As she had very specific ideas on how the cupcakes should look like, her mum and I had to brainstorm in order to have her name and Happy Birthday indicated on the cupcakes. I suggested having letters and numbers candles but they were pretty expensive. The ones for Happy Birthday were reasonably priced but for her name and number, it will cost about SGD30. After looking around for different ideas, I decided to print my own cupcake toppers in the birthday girl's favourite colour, pink. Pretty?

When that was done, I searched for Paddington Bear cupcake toppersonline as I just watched the heart-warming movie on very early on New Year's Day. I was introduced to Paddington Bear as a child when my uncle bought me a very thick storybook on the adventures of Paddington Bear. Along with Pooh Bear, Paddington Bear has become a personal favourite. Till this day, I still have a Paddington Bear plush at home.  As I didn't find any cupcake toppers online, I decided to make my own using Microsoft Publisher. It was not difficult though I had to adjust the images a few times in order to get the correct size. Here they are!

After printing the toppers, inspiration struck! Why not make Marmalade cupcakes to go with the cupcake toppers since that is Paddington's favourite? Coincidentally I have a church gathering the next evening and so I ended up baking at almost 10pm! The cupcakes smell so good and while waiting for them to cool before decorating, I decided to write this post. Sorry I didn't take much photos while making the cupcakes. The photos will be taken in the morning when the light is better.

Marmalade Cupcakes (makes about 15 cupcakes)

175g soften unsalted butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour
3 tbsp of marmalade
1 tsp salt

1. Pre-heat oven at 180 deg C
2.Beat soften butter and caster sugar till creamy and pale.
3. Add in the marmalade and mix well
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time
5. Add the vanilla essence and mix well
6. Add in the salt and self-raising flour and mix well.
7. Scoop into cupcake liners till about 80% full.
8. Bake for 20 minutes till skewers come out clean.
9. Leave till cool before frosting

Cream Cheese frosting 
250g soften cream cheese
125g soften butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
3 tbsp marmalade
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter till smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, marmalade and vanilla essence and mix till smooth.
3. Frost the cupcakes as desired.

I had difficulty piping the cupcakes due to the chunky zest in the marmalade. I would probably used orange juice to replace the marmalade in the frosting next time.

Here they are all frosted and chilled after one night in the fridge.

With the cupcake toppers and the star!

All packed in the box and ready for the party later!

Yuzu again: Yuzu Swiss Roll

I had a lovely time this afternoon baking with a friend whom I made during my work stint in Shanghai. She was interested in baking but due to health concerns, she has to reduce on butter and cream. We had lunch last week and she wanted to learn some healthier cakes. I suggested chocolate cupcakes with buttermilk and Yuzu Swiss Roll without cream as she loved the Yuzu Log Cake which I gave her.

We had so much fun chatting while baking that I almost forgot to add the vegetable oil to the Swiss roll. We added the oil after folding in the stiff white egg and luckily the Swiss roll turn out successful.

In the past, I had problems rolling swiss roll without cracking or having the swiss roll stick to the baking paper. After doing some research online, I finally managed to make a beautiful swiss roll. Today, I will be sharing with you the tips I have learnt.

Yuzu Swiss Roll (serves 8-10)
50g milk
30g vegetable cooking oil
50g caster sugar
3 large eggs (separated, ensure there is no trace of egg yolks in the egg whites)
1/4 tsp cream of Tartar
50g cake flour (sieved)
5 tbsp Yuzu tea
Some icing sugar

1. Pre-heat oven at 160 deg C
2. Heat 15g caster sugar, vegetable oil and milk in a pan. Stir till sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
3. Add in the cake flour and stir till well mixed.
4. Mix in the egg yolks one at a time.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and Cream of Tartar till frothy. Add in remaining 35g of caster sugar and beat till stiff.
6. Fold in 1/3 of stiff egg white to the egg yolk mixture. Take care not to deflate the egg whites. Continue folding in the rest of the egg whites.
7. Line a 9" by 13" tray. Pour the batter into the tray.
8. Bake at 160 deg C for 20-25 mins.
9. Once the cake is baked, take out of oven immediately and drop the tray from a height for a few times (to prevent shrinkage).
10. Prepare a sheet of baking paper similar in size to the tray. Sprinkle some icing sugar on the baking paper.
11. Invert the baked cake onto the new sheet of baking paper and remove the old baking sheet.
12. Roll the cake while it's hot and leave it to cool rolled up.
13. Once the roll is cooled, unroll the cake and spread the Yuzu tea onto the cake. Roll up again and chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Optional: You can spread some whipped cream onto the cake prior to spreading the Yuzu tea and for the Christmas season, you can frost the outside with whipped cream and decorate it into a log cake.

This is the cake without the whipped cream which we made today. Pardon the poor lighting. Due to the rain, I couldn't take nice pictures. We sprinkled some icing sugar on top of the swiss roll instead of frosting the roll.

I am enjoying a slice of this soft, fluffy and Yuzu filled goodness while writing this post :)

Yuzu Chiffon Cake

Rain rain rain...... This is the 2nd week that we are experiencing rain in the afternoons. Very cooling weather though the wet weather is a damper for any outdoor activities... the poor school children who are cooped up at home during the school holidays.

While posting the last post, I noticed that I haven't posted any cakes or cookies recipe for some time. I have been baking quite regularly these past weeks but somehow haven't posted them. This has been a rather productive baking week for me. I was perfecting the cookie recipe for my Christmas Goodies baking class and have also managed to create a new flavour for Christmas Log Cake. I should probably name it the Baker's Favourite as the log cake was created especially for me :) I have been trying to control myself not to finish the whole cake. I have also been busy organising my very own first baking class and also a 1st birthday party for Chocs & Cheeze. How time flies!

As mentioned in previous posts, I love citrus and Yuzu is one of my favourites. I have Yuzu wine, Yuzu honey and Yuzu tea at home! My newly created log cake is Yuzu Log Cake! Been wanting to bake a Yuzu Chiffon Cake for the longest time and I glad I baked it a month ago when I had an overseas guest over at my home for dinner. It also gave me a chance to try out my new heart-shaped Chiffon pan from Tokyo. The cake is very soft and fluffy, my overseas guest gave it a thumbs-up and packed some for her colleagues and breakfast the next day!

I followed the recipe from here with some slight modifications.

Yuzu Chiffon Cake (21cm Chiffon pan)
4 large Eggs (separated)

1/4 tsp Salt

80g Caster Sugar

5 tbsp Vegetable oil

100g Yuzu tea 

 5 tbsp Hot Water

120g Cake flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1. Pre-heat the oven at 170 deg C

2. Mix the Yuzu tea with the hot water and cut the yuzu peels into small pieces.
3. Beat the egg yolks, 30g sugar and salt together till well mixed.
4. Add the Yuzu tea mixture into the beaten egg yolks and mix well.
5. Sieve the Cake flour together with the baking powder and add to the egg yolk mixture using a hand whisk.
6. Beat the egg whites and Cream of Tartar till formy and then add the 50g sugar and continue beating till peaks formed.
7. Fold 1/3 of egg white mixture at a time into the egg yolk mixture gently. Be careful not to deflat the egg whites.
8. Pour the batter into a Chiffon pan (no need to grease and line pan) and bake at 170 deg C for 45 minutes.
9. Once the cake is baked, take it out of the oven and invert it immediately to prevent sinking.
10. Remove the cake from mould once it's cooled.

I love this cake so much that I baked it again the next day :) The baking of the cake is not difficult but sometimes the un-moulding is a little tricky. Have a try.

Easy Nutella Brownies

Met 2 of my classmates from the university days on Monday for a catch-up. These days we probably meet about once or twice a year as everyone is busy with work and family. Both friends have young children so one of their activities together is baking. One of the reasons for our catch-up is so that I can bring one of my friends to buy the ingredients for making snow skin mooncakes together with her boys. The other friend commented that her little girl loves going to ToTT (a kitchen supply store in Singapore) and baking cookies there. I told her she could do simple things like cookies and cupcakes at home with her girl so that it less expensive and they do not need to drive out. Afterall, she has a domestic helper who can help with the clean-up.

On Monday afternoon, when I got home, I sent the recipe for this easy 3 ingredient brownies to them. I thought I would share this recipe with you too. These brownies look so pretty in their cupcake liners.

Nutella Brownies in a cup

1 cup Nutella (about 280g)
2 Eggs
10 tbsp plain Flour
some nuts for decoration (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven at 170 deg C
2. Whisk the eggs lightly with a fork.
3. Add in the Nutella and mix well.
4. Sieve the plain flour and fold into the egg and Nutella mixture.
5. Scoop them into cupcake liners or muffin moulds.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes till cooked (depends on size of cups)

I have added some almond flakes for decoration. You can add hazelnuts or walnuts if you like. The brownies can also be baked in a try and then sliced for serving. The baking time will take about 30-40 minutes.

I served my brownies with some vanilla ice-cream when I had some guests over. Pardon the poor lighting, I took the picture in the evening just prior to eating my brownie.

This recipe is so easy to make yet very yummy! The most difficult part is trying to measure the sticky Nutella in a cup and transferring into the mixing bowl. I solved this by adding the Nutella directly into the mixing bowl and weighing it.